Discusses techniques that elementary school teachers can use to help students assess their own achievement. Suggests that writing checklists can be used to evaluate content, organization, grammar, and diction and that student self-assessments are also a useful part of parent-student-teacher conferences. (MDM)

A study of eight students with moderate to severe disabilities investigated the nature of their involvement in transition planning during their final year of high school. Teachers and parents made little investment in preparing students for their transition planning meetings, and none were active participants with designated roles. (Contains…

Suggests that immigrant Latino parents have an ethnotheory of child development that emphasizes being part of a group, and that this ethnotheory conflicts with teachers' views focusing on the development of individual potential. Analyzes three dialogues from parent-teacher conferences to illustrate parent-teacher cooperation or discord in the…

This case study investigated parental perceptions of students with autism towards the IEP meeting from one family support group chapter in the north Texas area. Participants were asked to share their experiences of previous IEP meetings and to provide input regarding not only measures that school districts may take towards improving IEP meetings,…

The purpose of this study was to find out what middle school principals and teachers were doing to increase parental participation. The interview survey method was used and the instrument included questions eliciting demographic data about the schools and open-ended questions to identify methods used by the schools to increase parental support and…

Parents and teachers share responsibility for creating a working relationship that fosters children's learning. This digest examines the cultural context for parent-teacher relationships, suggests some general strategies for creating a climate in which misunderstandings and disagreements between parents and teachers can be minimized through…

This study was designed to determine which parent involvement strategies are used in Mississippi and which strategies are perceived as important by the states' parents, administrators, and teachers. Fifty school districts were randomly selected for the study. Questionnaires were distributed to parents, teachers, and one elementary and one…

One component of the final report of a 3-year project to train speech language pathologists and audiologists to deliver services to young children (birth to age 5) with communication disorders, the paper describes the project's model of multidisciplinary team interaction involving parents as integral to team function. The program stresses the…

Due to excessive tardiness and absenteeism among kindergarten children enrolled in Glendale Elementary School (Glen Burnie, Maryland) a practicum was designed to provide several avenues of good communication between the kindergarten and the home and to foster good relationships between teachers and parents. Additional goals of the practicum were…

Communication between parents and staff was observed in 16 proprietary day care centers during morning and afternoon transition times when parents dropped off children and picked them up. Results revealed large, stable differences among centers in the frequency and usefulness of these exchanges. About two-thirds of transition time opportunities…

Many teachers in the Sheboygan (Wisconsin) Area School District's alternative programs use principles taught to behavioral disordered students for confronting and handling difficult situations when they must confront other adults in the school system about their concerns and problems. A positive and effective adult confrontation process is…

A workshop type method of training teachers in the use of counseling techniques for facilitating parent teacher conferences is described. It is based on the Carkhuff model of attending, responding, initiating, and communicating. At each of the four stages, the leader first discusses its purpose and the specific behaviors to be encompassed in the…

This is an annual report from a foundation whose principal goal is the development of practical alternatives to the traditional methods of educating children and training teachers. In addition to financial statements, articles are presented which describe the foundation's activities in several areas: (1) an assessment of National Follow Through,…

This book is a compilation of cultural information and Spanish-English phrases and sentences that will be useful to English-speaking teachers and administrators in a bilingual setting. The guide presents information on differences between Anglo and Latin cultures, Spanish words and phrases that are useful in a variety of settings, and sample…

Serious drawbacks can be cited for almost every form of student performance evaluation. The typical A-B-C-D report seldom tells anything really meaningful; the arguments against this system are many--unless you have straight A offspring. Written comments or reports are good if they tell, in a meaningful way, what the student is accomplishing in…